Due to their graphical and intuitive syntax, Message Sequence Charts (MSC) are an excellent description technique to capture interaction sequences among components. MSCs are used in a variety of modeling techniques and development phases. Examples of their wide-spread applicability are communication patterns in software architectures, as well as message flow protocols between business corporations. In this paper we present a variant of message sequence diagrams called Extended Event Traces (EETs). We provide the graphical notation, discuss the methodological use of EETs to describe the behavior of object oriented business information systems, and sketch their semantics. Special emphasis is put on the different implications of using EETs for exemplary and complete interaction descriptions. The possibility to describe interactions between single objects as well as composite objects with EETs makes them particularly suitable to describe the behavior of large systems.
Computer Standards and Interfaces (CSI), vol. 19, pp. 335-345, Elsevier, 1998.